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August 15, 2024
A Biden-Harris Lovefest
The were celebrating a landmark Medicare price reduction, but they were really putting their partnership back on display.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris speak about lowering prescription drug costs at an event at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland.
(Bryan Olin Dozier / NurPhoto via AP)
President Joe Biden kissed Vice President Kamala Harris on the head as she mouthed “I love you” at their Thursday afternoon rally at Prince George’s County Community College in Maryland. Bruce Springsteen’s “We Take Care Of Our Own” rang out while Biden took the podium. The joyfest was to celebrate their cutting the prices of 10 expensive Medicare drugs, for a combined $6 billion in initial savings. They did it, thanks to Harris’s tie-breaking vote, with absolutely no support from Republicans.
But it was also an event to let the VP celebrate the man who made her presidential candidacy possible, and maybe to shut up the moronic stylings of Donald Trump, who has called that transition a “coup.” Or maybe not. I can believe Harris, Biden and their staffs don’t give a fig about Trump’s blathering. Maybe it was just time for a lovefest. Why not?
At any rate, it was moving. Biden will deserve many chances to take these victory laps, with or without Harris alongside him.
Democrats have tried to lower prescription drug costs, especially within Medicare, for decades. Biden said he and progressive Senator Frank Church were trying measures like that 50 years ago. Republicans spent $400 million lobbying against the Biden-Harris moves. It paid off, sort of: They got every GOP vote. But the Democrats had the Senate majority, so it didn’t matter.
There was a lot of optimism on that Maryland stage. Angela Alsobrooks will probably keep Ben Cardin’s Democratic Senate seat. Governor Wes Moore is a rising star. But there is still worry about the Senate—Democrats have to get Montana’s Jon Tester over the line. I want to see a rally like this in Bozeman or Helena.
Meanwhile, this was a great celebration of a victory that didn’t get enough attention (though it won’t take effect until January 2026, which is lamentable). “Let me congratulate the Biden-Harris Administration for taking on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry & slashing the list prices of some of the most expensive prescription drugs under Medicare by up to 79%,” Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on Thursday. “This action will bring significant financial relief to seniors.”
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And Biden promised that Harris—it will be on Harris, of course—will spread the savings to non-Medicare recipients. She seemed a happy warrior when it came to that project.
Biden seemed a happy warrior now, too. He garbled some words, but who cares? He seemed light and funny, talking about the “270 years” he served in the Senate and referring to Trump as “Donald Dump.”
“Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is,” he told the crowd. “Beat the hell out of them!” The crowd roared.
This has been the best outcome possible for Democrats since Biden’s disastrous late-June debate crash. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz reminds us of a 2008 Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s loyal sidekick. But this rally reminded us what Harris, and Democrats, owe Biden right now. He’s still her boss, nobody’s sidekick, and they have a lot they can still do together between now and November.
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In the coming election, the fate of our democracy and fundamental civil rights are on the ballot. The conservative architects of Project 2025 are scheming to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision across all levels of government if he should win.
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Joan Walsh
Joan Walsh, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation, is a coproducer of The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show and the author of What’s the Matter With White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America. Her new book (with Nick Hanauer and Donald Cohen) is Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power and Wealth In America.